Regiment Types
In the wake of the Horus Heresy the Imperium recognised the need to compartmentalise its military might to ensure no single rogue commander could ever command enough power to defeat all other imperial units on the same scale. To this end the Imperial Army was split into the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, and the Legiones Astartes were removed from any position of authority over both and split into Chapters. The Imperial Guard was further split up into Regiments: self-contained formations capable of independent operation yet specialised enough to be countered by another regiment should they turn traitor. This page outlines the various types of regiment, as well as describing their specialisations. It is important to note that these descriptions are only broad generalities when applied to the galaxy as a whole, but are accurate for Sector Deus. Combat Regiments Combat regiments are regiments specifically designed to undergo the vast majority of the fighting in an Imperial Guard deployment. Though combat regiments maintain their own support elements and enough versatility to win a small-scale battle against any type of foe, large-scale campaigns require the cooperation of multiple regiments if they are to be successful. Most combat regiments are sourced from Fortress and Death Worlds, as their entire societies are centered around warfare. In Sector Deus - and indeed most of the Imperium - the standard recruitment criteria for combat regiments is volunteers from among the best of the planet's Planetary Defence Force, which is determined by extensive personnel assessments performed by the superior officers of the PDF (dereliction of this tedious duty is considered treason). These volunteers are then formed into Imperial Guard regiments and provided with Imperial Guard issue equipment depending on their regiment's type - as well as training to operate said equipment if required. Due to the recruitment criteria newly-raised regiments have a near-universal demography of all-male between the ages of around twenty and thirty, with older soldiers usually being Noble officers who have undergone rejuvenation. Though rare, female combat regiments are not unheard-of, and in Sector Deus the matriarchal world of Doria IV alone tithes guardswomen into fighting roles. In times of great need - such as during a crusade - an entire upper percentage of a world's PDF may simply be conscripted into the Imperial Guard, the planet losing an entire generation of its vital military experience to the greater need of the Imperium. The battalions that make up a regiment are all coordinated by a centralised regimental command unit. This command unit contains the array of support companies such as supply, communications, medical and engineering companies that allow the regiment to operate independently in small-scale actions. These support elements are still expected to be just as competent in a firefight as the combat elements of their regiment though, and so are recruited in the same way before being given training in their additional roles. 'Infantry Regiment' The backbone of the Imperial Guard. The basic component of the infantry regiment is the infantry squad: ten guardsmen in flak armour armed with lasguns, one special weapon and one heavy weapon. Five or so infantry squads are formed into an infantry platoon, under a platoon command squad and possibly supplemented with heavy weapons and/or special weapons squads, or even armoured sentinels depending on assignment. Several infantry platoons are then formed into an infantry company, under a company command platoon. Then five to ten infantry companies will be formed into a battalion, along with supplementary fire support companies all under the command of a battalion command section. Usually every battalion will have at least one commissar and one ecclesiarchal battle priest attached, but this can vary. An infantry regiment may also include battalions containing tank companies, armoured reconnaissance companies, mechanised infantry companies, and rough rider companies, allowing the regiment to effectively engage any threat on a small-scale. This makes the standard infantry regiment the most versatile regiment the Imperial Guard can field, though this versatility only holds true in smaller battles. In large campaigns the infantry regiment's relatively paltry armoured complement will not allow it to resist a true tank assault. Infantry regiments are also the most likely to have battle psykers attached, often consdered a mixed blessing by the regiment's officers. Finally a regiment is formed from any number of battalions with no clearly established limit, meaning infantry regiments can vary wildly in size. Though generally no smaller than ten thousand souls, the largest regiments can exceed fifty or even a hundred thousand men strong. These enormous infantry regiments are usually the 'flagship' regiments of a Fortress World, with a designation number below 100 or so - and used as the nucleus of a multi-regiment deployment. 'Armoured Regiment' The hammer of the Imperial Guard and an indomitable spearhead of thick plasteel and high-calibre guns that only the fiercest defence can resist. Armoured Regiments mostly consist of the legendary Leman Russ Battle Tank. The basic unit is the tank company: three platoons of three Leman Russes, under one company command Leman Russ. Three to five tank companies make up a tank battalion of thirty to fifty Leman Russes, which may be accompanied by a foreboding all-black Commissar's tank. Any number of tank battalions are then put under command of a regimental command unit, and will usually be accompanied by a number of Armoured Reconnaissance companies for scouting and close-in support purposes. Many armoured regiments are also spearheaded by a single Baneblade, though some very lucky regiments can boast entire companies of super-heavy tanks. Armoured Recon companies are made up of Salamander Scout vehicles and Scout Sentinels. They provide much needed mobility and close-range defence to the Leman Russes of their regiment, though much like the armoured complements of an infantry regiment not to a degree great enough to make a difference in a large-scale campaign. Armoured regiments may also have rough rider units for long-distance scouting andfor ambushing smaller infantry units. To provide defence against marauding flyers armoured regiments are also accompanied by detachments of Hydra flak tanks. 'Artillery Regiment' Row upon row of enormous cannons belching flame and death upon the foes of humanity can turn the tide of any war. Artillery regiments are ponderous, slow to fire and extremely vulnerable at close ranges. But what they lack in these areas is more than made up for in their ability to turn acres of land at once into a firestorm of high explosives, and with many types of ammunition at their disposal a properly positioned artillery regiment can obliterate practically anything. The basic component of artillery regiments is the Troop, a formation of five assorted self-propelled guns (SPGs). The most commonly used SPG is the Basilisk but the Medusa Siege Gun is a possible alternative. Several troops form a Battery, and each regiment will contain several batteries under a regimental command unit. Terrifying Deathstrike Missile Launchers may also be attached to the regiment on an as-needed basis, though larger artillery regiments may contain them at all times. Artillery regiments also contain a number of infantry companies for the close-defence of their position, ensuring small units of infiltrators cannot simply massacre relatively defenceless artillery crews with impunity. Again however this small infantry complement will do little to stop dedicated assaults (though given that artillery regiments stay kilometres behind the front lines this is extremely unlikely). Furthermore their lack of mobility makes artillery regiments significanlty vulnerable against enemy aircraft, and so like Armoured regiments are accompanied by detachments of Hydra anti-air vehicles. Artillery regiments also second officers to regiments on the front line in order to spot targets and coordinate firepower, ensuring the heavy ordnance is brought to bear where needed. 'Light Infantry Regiment' A variation of the standard infantry regiment, focusing on manoeuvrebility and a low-profile for scouting operations. Light infantry regiments are typically made up entirely of infantry squads with only special weapons, no heavy weapon or armoured support units (aside from scout sentinels), and have a loose command structure that emphasises initiative and speed. They will frequently be equipped with extensive camouflaging, lightened equipment and a larger proportion of sniper rifles & demolition equipment. In addition to this light infantry regiments are small in size, numbering fewer than ten thousand each and usually closer to five thousand. This leaves light infantry regiments at a sore disadvantage in any pitched battle, where the only remotely heavy units they can bring to bear are scout sentinels. However if used properly light infantry regiments should not be anywhere near pitched battles for their role is long-distance reconnaissance, rearguard actions, infiltration and guerilla warfare. Thier lack of intensive combat duty means their own support units are enough to sustain the regiment for very long periods of time, and so light infantry regiments are used for long range operations that require mobility and subtlety. 'Heavy Infantry Regiment' Another variation of the standard infantry regiment, optimised for static defence and endurace. Like light infantry regiments heavy infantry regiments are also made up entirely of infantry with no supporting armour units, but this is because the mobility of the tanks would be wasted on a regiment designed not to move. To this end heavy infantry regiments are equipped with much heavier personal equipment than their standard infantry counterparts with carapace armour being standard-issue along with a much higher proportion of heavy & special weapons, and they may also have static artillery platforms at their disposal alongside armored sentinels. Rapidly deployable aegis defence lines are commonly utilised by heavy infantry regiments, and their doctrine and supplemental training makes them experts in defensive combat. Heavy infantry regiments are obviously much more expensive to equip than standard infantry regiments, and so they are often much smaller in number like light infantry regiments. However their advanced equipment, heavy weapons and defensive advantage allow them to resist an enormous number of attacking foes. 'Rough Rider Regiment' A relative rarity, these regiments are best suited for long-distance scouting & recon, maneouvring through difficult terrain, and ambushing light troops. These regiments follow the same squad-platoon-company structure as Infantry regiments but are distinguished by the fact that every fighting unit is fully mounted on beast-back, affording them much greater mobility than foot Infantry while also retaining the ability to move through difficult and restrictive terrain that can stymie Mechanised units. Rough Rider regiments are mostly used for long range scouting duties and for harassing lightly defended foes such as rearline troops. These regiments are typically small in number and excellent for flanking battle lines unnoticed so they can ambush enemy support units or lightly defended infantry columns, however they have little staying power in pitched battles and are usually easy targets for heavy weapons. While the most common mount by far is the Terran Horse, there are an enormous number of variations that can drastically change how the regiment operates. The Death Riders of Krieg for example use a highly augmented and armoured type of horse that can charge straight into heavy fire, while the slow but incredibly hardy Mukaali of Tallarn can march thousands of miles through intense heat without rest. Other mounts can be dangerous in their own right, like the reptilian Aethexe that can rip a man in two with its jaws, the venom spitting Venumex lizard, and most famously fire-beathing Drakes. Some mounts are even capable of flight, which drastically changes how the regiment can operate. Typillcy Rough Rider regiments are only drawn from worlds where a substantial amount of the population rides beasts as part of their society. For example the Desert nomads of Tallarn are excellent for recruiting Rough Riders, as are the Plains Tribes of Wladistan. Many feudal worlds - dependant as they are on beast power - tithe rough riders, as it is easier to teach these men to shoot a lasgun than it is to teach a guardsman how to ride a beast. However while rough rider regiments have their uses, it is more common to find beastback units in other regiments for scouting duties. 'Mechanised Regiment' One of the most potent regimental structures is the Mechanised Regiment. It once again follows the same basic structure as the infantry regiment but with the addition of Chimera APCs for every infantry squad and large complement of light armoured support (ie Hellhound tanks). The Chimeras greatly enhance the mobility and effectiveness of the infantry squads, and the light tanks provide a fast spearhead capable of punching through enemy lines before scores of APCs deposit infantry directly into the battle. Sometimes the Chimeras may be substituted for more esoteric transports, but their purpose remains the same. Mechanised regiments will also have Armoured recon companies attached to their structure, scouting out terrain in advance of the mounted infantry force, and may have beastback rough rider units for the same purpose too. Equipping every infantry squad with a Chimera is a prohibitive drain on resources, so mechanised regiments are much rarer and typically smaller in number than standard infantry regiments. However their exceptional ubiquity and speed of redeployment makes them a favourite tool of Imperial Guard generals across the galaxy. 'Drop Regiment' Drop regiments are composed almost entirely of infantry with light personal equipment, with vehicle support limited to drop sentinels and tauroses and only a small regimental command unit with minimal support capability. This means they can only bring very limited force to bear against the enemy and can only maintain this force for a short time. However the drop regiment's strength lies in the fact that it is entirely deployed from airborne valkyrie assault carriers and/or vendetta gunships via grav-chutes, allowing them to attack the enemy at a point of their own choosing. Drop regiments also include a large detachment of Vulture Gunships that obliterate the biggest threats with their heavy ordnance, but limited ammunition and fuel prevents them from doing more than that. Drop regiments are therefore units that require proper strategy for maximum effect. If used correctly a drop regiment can change the tide of an entire war. If used incorrectly they may find themselves alone, outgunned and outnumbered in the middle of enemy territory. 'Siege Regiment' Siege regiments are inflexible formations designed for static attrition warfare. As the name suggests they are optimised for surrounding and suffocating an enemy position through saturation fire and vast trench lines. These regiments are composed of large numbers of standard and heavy infantry units, along with vast batteries of static artillery guns and massive Engineering companies. Aside from utility vehicles to move around their guns and materiel Siege Regiments do not operate any armoured vehicles, though they do have a very large distribution of heavy weapons and gun emplacements. The sheer attrition and harsh conditions inherant to siege warfare means Siege Regiments require iron discipline and determination, and this means they can generally only be tithed from worlds with a culture that produces men hard enough to endure such conditions. The most famous of these worlds is Krieg, their famous Death Korps synonymous with siege warfare. 'Grenadier Regiment' Grenadier regiments are not formed from PDF volunteers, rather they are formed from the best veterans of other infantry regiments - and follow a similar command structure. This experience and skill is augmented with the best equipment possible such as carapace armour, hellguns, special weapons and a large pool of Chimeras (or even valkyries) to transport them in. This makes grenadier regiments extremely expensive to field, but extremely effective against practically any foe and capable of winning entire campaigns singlehandedly if put in the right place at the right time. Their weakness lies in their small numbers however, and grenadier regiments require the support of their less-elite but much more numerous comrades if they are to maximise their effect. Nevertheless a single grenadier regiment acts as a terrific force multiplier - scything down by enemy infantry with deadly accurate hellgun fire and obliterating tanks with meltaguns and krak missiles fired by grizzled veterans of war. 'Tempestus Regiment' The best of the best. Storm Troopers are graduates of the Schola Progenium who are selected for their combat prowess to undergo additional training in Storm Trooper academies. Here they are moulded into the greatest soldiers an unaugmented human can become and equipped with the finest weapons of war that can be afforded to them. Each tempestus regiment is made up of one hundred identical companies of one hundred men each, and differs from other regiments in that it rarely fights as one. Instead only single companies or perhaps battalions are attached to campaigns at the behest of high-command, given unique objectives often unknown to their immediate Imperial Guard commanders. This autonomy and secrecy can put Storm Troopers at odds with Grenadiers, who through experience rather than training are of similar skill as well as being similarly equipped. Rivalries tend to break out between cooperating Grenadiers and Storm Troopers, the grizzled veterans considering Storm Troopers to be 'Glory Boys' who haven't personally earned their reputation. Every storm trooper is equipped with environmentally-sealed carapace armour, a rebreather, extensive comms systems, frag & krak grenades and a hellgun & power system, along with a valkyrie for every squad and many special weapons. This renders them highly resistant to conventional attack, impervious to chemical/biological attack, extremely mobile and capable of levelling baleful firepower upon their foe. Coupled with their superior training, determination and support equipment (including combat stims and temporary bionics), they can fight through the worst conditions and emerge victorious. Support Regiments As stated previously all combat regiments contain their own support elements as part of the regimental command section. However these relatively small support units are only capable of sustaining the regiment during times of inactivity and light combat duties. Should serious fighting arise a combat regiment's own support units will quickly find themselves unable to meet the massive logistical requirements. Regiments are deliberately organised this way to ensure that traitor combat regiments have as little logistical support as possible, greatly reducing the threat they can pose over a longer period of time as they quickly find themselves running out of ammunition, supplies and all manner of non-combat services fighting troops need. To meet the gargantuan logistical requirements of Imperial Guard deployments that can involve hundreds of combat regiments there are support regiments, which are devoted to the vital but non-combat aspects of warfare. Support regiments come under the oversight of the Departmento Munitorum and make up the majority of the Imperial Guard, for as a rough guideline every frontline guardsman requires around five support personnel to ensure maximum effectiveness. For obvious reasons the recruitment criteria for support regiments is much looser than that of combat regiments. Generally any volunteer from the imperial populace - barring the clearly disabled, underaged, or elderly - is accepted, by applying at one of the imperial guard recruitment posts located in practically every city in the Imperium. Sometimes the Imperial Guard actively seeks to recruit certain people (for example trained medicae). To entice these desirables they will be offered higher ranks upon entrance (for example surgeons automatically become officers). Simply conscripting those required is considered an acceptable option should the need be great enough, but the Imperium generally prefers to avoid this unless completely necessary as it produces subpar troops and these professionals are needed in the civilian sector as well. The volunteers then undergo a few weeks of basic training which serves to weed out the very weakest recruits while bringing the rest to an acceptable standard, and those who show promise (or have deep enough pockets) will be put into officer training and become the regiment's commanders. The typical demographics of a support regiment are an average age of around twenty-five, but a broad age range of between eighteen and ~forty-five (again there may be much older members who have undergone rejuvenation treatments) and around a 5-1 male-to-female ratio (this can occasionally vary, for example Dorian support regiments are all-female just like their combat regiments). Standard equipment for support regiments is very basic with only flak armour, a lasgun and a knife for personal defence, and special/heavy weapons are not issued. When deployed into active duty support regiments are generally far from the front lines, but to ensure their defence nonetheless they tend to have companies from combat regiments attached to them. These are from combat regiments that have been rotated off the front line after a period of deployment, and guarding support regiments is a posting that allows rest & recreation. Specialised equipment is issued to support regiments as-needed to aid them in their purpose. 'Supply Regiment' The Imperial Guard is a gargantuan machine that fights endlessly for mankind's survival. It is also a hungry machine that must be fed with colossal amounts of ammunition, ordnance, fuel, food, clothing, weapons, armour and more. These things are the concern of supply regiments whose duty it is to receive shipments of material from the Imperial Navy. These are transferred into massive supply depots and distributed where needed. To this end the officers of a supply regiment are bureaucrats first and foremost, forever recording incoming shipments of materiel and sifting through requisition orders from the supply elements of other regiments (be they combat or support). The enlisted troops of the supply regiment then transport this requisitioned materiel to the recipient regiments' supply units, from where it is distributed to the rest of the recipient regiment. While ostensibly just a support unit, a Supply Regiment's duties will inevitably involve getting close to the front lines in order to deliver their supplies. Due to this inherant danger Supply columns are often heavily armed and their personnel - while far from true infantry - are proficient gunners with the mounted weapons on their large vehicles. To perform their duties a supply regiment is issued with a large array of transport vehicles. These can vary from fast, low-capacity speeder craft used for transporting VIPs to gargantuan haul trucks more commonly seen on mining worlds, used by the Imperial Guard to transport countless tonnes of materiel instead of ore. 'Engineering Regiment' A primary component of imperial guard doctrine is the construction of fortresses, bunkers and all manner of defensive emplacements & operations bases. There is also a host of other tasks in warfare that require engineering expertise such as bridge & road construction, explosive ordnance disposal and minelaying. The Imperial Guard's incomprehensibly large fleet of vehicles and machinery does not repair itself either. Infantry regiments often have at least a company of their troops trained as combat engineers, who perform engineering tasks under fire such as mine detection, demolitions, and minor vehicle repairs. But these are too few in number and too valuable on the front line (as both trained infantrymen and engineers) to be used for the more tedious rear-line engineering tasks. For these there are engineering regiments. The duties of an engineering regiment's officers is often the technical side such as drawing up blueprints of fortifications to be constructed, and at the highest levels could be tasked with designing entire portions of a campaign's defensive line. The enlisted members are mostly used as surveyors, technical overseers and plant operators on-site, ensuring every one of the many steps any construction work takes is performed correctly. The majority of the manual labour involved in actually building these constructions is performed by labour regiments and the materials required must be hauled in by a supply regiment, so engineering regiments often have liason officers attached to these regiments to ensure smooth operation. Engineering regiments also have enormous repairs shops akin to mobile factories and forges, where they recieve the shattered husks of machinery that have become battlefield casualties and make them frontline-worthy once more. Half-destroyed tanks, APCs, SPGs, aircraft and more are funnelled to engineering regiments where they replace, restore, or if necessary cannibalise any components they can to keep combat regiments' vehicle pools as full as possible. It also falls to engineering regiments to inspect captured/damaged enemy equipment. This can help imperial forces learn about enemy weaknesses, particularly when fighting against xenos and chaos (though inspection of the latter's vehicles requires considerable precaution). Naturally engineering regiments contain an enormous number of enginseer and techpriest personnel, to the point where some question whether engineering regiments are a part of the Imperial Guard or the Adeptus Mechanicus. Due to their sacred right of authority over the omnissiah's machines they jealously maintain command over the enlisted menials of the regiment, coordinating their efforts and ensuring all the proper rites are undertaken to restore their beloved technology. However Generals tend to forget about their suspicions when some brave techpriest is disarming an unexploded missile nearby. Engineering regiments have a host of technical equipment at their disposal such as surveying equipment, excavators, cranes and the large number of specialised tools techpriests and enginseers keep with themselves. They also have a large number of Atlases, Trojans, and more esoteric vehicles used for recovering vehicles and moving materiel around. 'Service Regiment' These vast regiments provide the full array of critical rear-line services needed by Combat Regiments when they're not engaged in immediate combat. Service regiments are typically very large and each will support an equally large number of Combat troops as they're rotated off the front line of battle. Due to their large size and varying duties Service Regiments are not always formed in their entirety from a single planet, instead bringing large units from multiple planets together into a single formation. Generally stationed in the rear-most echelons, Service Regiments consist of three main divisions: Medicae, Hospitality, and Military Police. These are organised into their own Battalions but are usually broadly dispersed throughout the areas of deployment, and maintaining strict division of authority is considered unnecessary for Service Regiments as they are not capable of waging true warfare, lacking both the equipment and training for it. However because of this they also require heavy protection from the Combat troops they service. 'Medicae Battalions' In a typical engagement around 75% of battlefield casualties will be wounded, but while the medics in a combat regiment's medical element can handle the results of small firefights, in true battles they can do little more than keep the most lightly wounded fighting and the most critically wounded alive. Therefore it falls to medicae battalions to handle the enormous number of wounded guardsmen produced by large-scale warfare. Most of the officers in medical battalions are qualified medical professionals such as doctors and surgeons, and the other officers handle the bureaucracy involved in handling wounded (eg. recording the regiment of origin of the wounded and keeping track of medical supplies). Enlisted members are nurses, orderlies and medics who assist the doctors & surgeons in treating the wounded. Medicae battalions involved in active duty will often have sisters of the Orders Hospitaller attached to them, and these women are among the most skilled healers in the Imperium. On rare occasions medical battalions may also have biomantic psykers available, though it is a desperate doctor that resorts to their use. Medicae battalions are capable of rapidly constructing field hospitals with quick-deploy structures and the assistance of mechanicus enginseers. They also operate their own fleet of vehicles for transporting the wounded, ranging from trojans to valkyries. 'Hospitality Battalions' A warm meal and a good night's sleep in a soft bed can turn a demoralised guardsman back into a battle-ready soldier in no time. Hospitality battalions are used for maintaining rear echelon command bases and keeping them as comfortable as possible for the high ranking officers and at-rest combat troops that occupy them. Their duties include furnishing quarters, cleaning them & other facilities, providing cooked food for tens of thousands of weary combat troops and the finest meals possible for senior officers. While they may wear uniforms the personnel in a Hospitality battalion are effectively no more than civilians with a sense of duty, so they can run the full demographic spectrum from children to the elderly, and can almost make combat troops feel like they're home. While janitorial work, trash collection, and mess cook duties may lack the glory found in combat, the Imperial Guard would grind to a halt without them just as surely as if it lacked infantrymen. And while they may not be seen with much favour outside the Imperial Guard, Combat troops are known to have a great fondness for these units. 'Military Police Battalions' The Imperial Guard is an enormous society of countless millions, and just like any society has crime and disorder. However simply using combat soldiers to police other soldiers is a solution proven to be unwise long ago as combat soldiers tend to have a very one-dimensional approach to any problem, and literal wars breaking out between regiments is never good. For the delicate task of maintaining order among heavily armed and potentially extremely tightly-wound troops there are military police battalions. Whilst regimental discipline in-the-field is the concern of the regiment's Commissar(s) they are hardly numerous enough to deal with relatively petty concerns like theft & assault that can and often do occur during a combat regiment's downtime, and Commissars are too valuable to be occupied with long-term investigations of severe crimes such as murder or black market sale of imperial materiel. Furthermore some regiments may not have any Commissars at all (at least, no live ones). These tasks fall to military police who patrol operating bases, investigate crimes and address accusations of wrongdoing throughout the imperial war machine just as regular police do for the regular imperial populace (albeit in wildly varying styles across the galaxy). Their purpose can often see MPs held with suspicion and disdain by combat troops, who question why they should be at the mercy of what they see as wannabe soldiers who have not fought as they have. Therefore MPs tend to be known by a wide variety of derogatory slang terms that vary from place to place including flatfoots, toy soldiers and cherries (referring to the common uniform practice of red helmets for MP battalions). Military police battalions are equipped with policing tools alongside their lasguns including stun mauls, handcuffs, burn spray, webbers and more. They also have stores of carapace armour, shields and tear gas launchers for riot control. This equipment and their additional combat training means military police are the best combatants in Service regiments. 'Intelligence Regiment' Information gathering, strategic oversight and logistical organisation is the crux of any campaign. It is intelligence regiments that accompany the high command of Imperial Guard deployments and perform the many and laborious tasks involved in commanding millions of soldiers at once. Mapping warzones, recording enemy activity, liaising with Imperial Navy scanners, compiling situation reports (as generals can hardly read through every report themselves) and all other tasks associated with military intelligence are the duties of these regiments, and without them the entire battlefront can fall into disarray in hours. Every single piece of information that is gathered in a campaign will be assembled by an intelligence regiment, who present it to the commanding general(s) before disseminating their orders to the rest of the imperial forces. Counter-intelligence is also the duty of intelligence regiments, such as intercepting and deciphering enemy transmissions. Large campaigns can involve hundreds of regiments, Imperial Navy ships and any number of other Imperial organisations, and though a combat regiment's comms element manages internal traffic they have no control over communications with other regiments and high command. Keeping track of the enormous exchanges of information that can occur over very short periods of time in the midst of battle is a vital task, and this duty also falls to intelligence regiments who operate massive banks of powerful vox units, signal boosters and radio masts all manned by skilled operators. They also have a host of multi-lingual officers capable of facilitating comunications between units that could have completely different languages, and will have sisters of the Orders Dialogous attached to them if necessary. Operators need to have extensive knowledge of the communications codes and practices of dozens of regiments, the imperial navy, the ecclesiarchy and even the adeptus astartes if needed. These units also have a large number of enginseers and menials who maintain the generators and electrical equipment required for the communications banks to do their job. The officers of intelligence regiments are naturally formed from the more educated members of the Imperial populace such as the Nobility and upper classes, however the massive variations in education standards from world to world mean this is only a generality. There are generally few enlisted soldiers in an intelligence regiment, and they serve as aides to the officers. To perform their duty intelligence regiments have vast cogitator banks and information processors at their disposal, as well as uplink transmitters that allow them to utilise auger scanners from satellites or Imperial Navy ships in orbit. Labour Regiments There are a great deal of problems facing the Imperial Guard that simply require a large number of men to throw at them. Such tasks include trench digging, construction works, debris clearance and exploration of the colossal areas of land involved in inter-planetary warfare. It is Labour regiments that perform these tedious, backbreaking and often thankless duties. Recruitment for labour regiments varies immensely. On many planets it is used as an alternative sentence to jail time for men that have committed some petty crime, and the Imperial Guard itself uses a transfer to a labour regiment as a medium-level punishment for guardsmen. However the source of most labour regiments are hive world underhives. Typically the hive government will place recruitment stations throughout an underhive district that accept any able-bodied man, promising a better life in the Imperial Guard than anything the slums could offer. Should volunteer numbers prove insufficient the government will simply conscript every able-bodied male aged 18-35 until they have enough. Labour regiments are also used as a convenient way to dispose of mutant populations, who are frequently pressganged into all-mutant labour regiments (many mutants welcome this though, seeing service as a way to atone for their sin). Recruits are then put through a very limited basic training course and equipped with no more than flak armour and a lasgun (or autogun). Labour regiments also have few officers for their size, with lieutenants leading platoons more comparable to a company in size. These officers are either disgraced combat regiment officers or selected through the internal heirarchy the regiment was recruited from, for example underhive gang-leaders. The regiments are then put at the disposal of generals who may use them however they see fit. Though mostly used for the tedious duties listed earlier labour regiments are occasionally used for stopgap combat duties if available combat regiments are already spread too thinly, and some particularly callous generals may use labour regiments as cannon fodder to soften an enemy strongpoint (should a penal legion be unavailable). Such combat actions often result in massive casualty rates among the labour regiment due to their poorly equipped nature and relatively chaotic command structure, which has led to labour regiments deployed to combat duty being known as "almost-penal legions" among guardsmen. Typically however fewer than one-in-ten labour regiments will ever be deployed in such an action, the vast majority of labour regiment guardsmen simply spending 20 backbreaking years digging trenches and hauling rocks. Labour regiments being pressed into frontline combat are the origin of the commonly held - but false - belief that the Imperial Guard is composed entirely of poorly-equipped, poorly-trained conscripts who charge the enemy en masse in enormous infantry waves. Penal Legions 'Penal World Penal Legions' With countless millions of undesirable criminals occupying space on Penal Worlds, the Imperium may as well put them to use. Penal Legions from Penal Worlds are raised on an as-needed basis - such as when a campaign or crusade is initiated nearby- and formed of volunteers from the criminal population. In return these criminals get the chance to fight & die for the Emperor and earn absolution for their sins (though for some criminals simply getting the chance to kill something is reason enough), and if they survive long enough they could even earn themselves a pardon and transferral to a standard regiment. Almost all penal legions are raised from the male camps of penal worlds, though very rarely a legion may be raised from female camps if enough of the inmates express a desire to serve (for example if a fanatically pious gang gains majority power in the camps). These criminals are then armed with flak armour and a cheap pattern of lasgun/autogun, along with an explosive collar to ensure obedience, and the only training they recieve are are firing & reloading instructions printed on the side of the weapon. They are formed into large rabbles of around 50-100 each, overseen by an officer (usually either some kind of criminal gang leader from the penal world or an officer of a combat regiment that has been given command of the penal legion). These officers keep order via the threat of detonating the criminals' collars, which they can do via a small transmitter that merely needs to be pointed at a collar and clicked. Any number of these rabbles can be formed into a penal legion, though legions are usually no fewer than 50,000 in order to be actually useful. Due to their cheap and expendable nature Penal Legions are tasked with the most dangerous tasks of the campaign. Stalling actions against rampaging waaaghs & suicidal charges against enemy strongholds are common, however other times a penal legion will be used as a vassal regiment to a combat regiment (usually a large infantry regiment). Having these expendable troops on-hand can greatly aid the 'real' soldiers in achieving their important objectives (for example by luring snipers to reveal themselves). Earning a pardon during penal legion service is a rare thing with only around one in a hundred legionnaires ever earning a transferral to a regular regiment, however this is skewed by the fact that some criminals (such as truly insane serial killers) are not eligible for a pardon at all. Pardons are granted at the behest of the penal legion's commanding colonel (who is usually an arbites official from the penal world the legion was raised from), and based on frontline reports submitted by officers on a legionnaire's exceptional performance. Pardons may also be earned from serving (and surviving) so long that the crime that got them sent to the penal world in the first place is considered atoned for. 'Imperial Guard Penal Legions' There is however another - and much smaller - type of penal legion that not raised as-needed. The Imperial Guard operates a number of constantly-active penal legions where already-serving guardsmen who have been convicted of a serious crime are sent. ''These ''penal legions tend to have a much more cohesive structure given the presence of convicted NCOs and officers and are known as a very motley collection of soldiers as they are drawn from all types of regiments - both combat & support - and grouped together. A given group could have an infantryman who shot his lieutenant, a tank driver who stole a general's personal transport, and a nurse who stabbed her commanding doctor. These troops tend to keep the equipment they were using when convicted, resulting in a wide array of available weaponry, armour, and support equipment. As these legions also number much smaller than standard penal world legions (usually only a few thousand strong), they are not deployed en masse in enormous, suicidal actions. Instead they are tasked with smaller - though no less dangerous - missions that could require a number of different expertises to accomplish. The commander of the penal legion will then form a unit from their troops they feel is best suited for the mission and send them off. If they achieve their mission the survivors are usually pardoned and returned to their regiment of origin. Because of their wide variety of skills & equipment, determination to earn their freedom, and potentially large amount of experience, penal legion squads formed for such missions are amusingly counted as some of the most effective units available to the Imperial Guard. Of course many convicted guardsmen may never get picked for such a mission and could end up spending decades in the penal legion, only discharged once they're too old to perform even basic support tasks. Category:Imperial Guard